Does Nintendo seem less kiddy on handhelds?

[themistermanguy]

While you'll get the occasional idiotic comment from sony fanboys. It seems as though the "Nintendo is for little kids" stigma is much less present on their handhelds compared to their consoles, especially nowadays.

No intelligent gamer is going to sit there and tell you that the GBA was a kids system or that the DS and 3DS are only played by 5 year olds, when they have games like Castlevania, Resident Evil, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Fire Emblem, Kid Icarus: Uprising, Golden Sun, Shin Megami Tensei, Monster Hunter, Tekken, Dead or Alive on there that while don't sell as much as a Mario or Zelda, sell well enough to be a decent success for the most part.

However, Nintendo consoles don't get games like that nearly as often as their handhelds and competition does. So when someone looks at a Nintendo Console, they'll mainly see Nintendo's first party games and the occasional mature/3rd party game on there.

It seems as though Nintendo's handhelds truly are for everyone while their consoles have tended to be for children and Nintendo fans ever since the N64. What do you think?

 

[krazykidd]

A pet peeve of mine , is when someone is trying to make a point, and uses a grocery lists of games to prove it. I could literally write the opposite of what you wrote and list a bias array of games to prove a counter point.

That being said. Nintendo has always been for variety. No matter how old you are, and what you like, you can find something for you with a nintendo system, handheld or not. The problem is, no one takes the time to look for them .

 

[TehCookie]

It's all about 3rd party support, none of their mature games on handhelds are first party. However it does have more 3rd party support than their consoles. So Nintendo is still kiddie, but you can put other games on their consoles. The WiiU or Wii aren't inheritly kiddie but because they lack many mature games.

 

[themistermanguy]

It's all about 3rd party support, none of their mature games on handhelds are first party.

Fire Emblem and Kid Icarus are 1st party

 

[TehCookie]

It's all about 3rd party support, none of their mature games on handhelds are first party.

Fire Emblem and Kid Icarus are 1st party

Two titles out of how many? Compare that to the other consoles. There are always exceptions, you can find kiddie games by Microsoft and Sony but they're seen as mature.

 

[themistermanguy]

It's all about 3rd party support, none of their mature games on handhelds are first party.

Fire Emblem and Kid Icarus are 1st party

Two titles out of how many? Compare that to the other consoles. There are always exceptions, you can find kiddie games by Microsoft and Sony but they're seen as mature.

F- Zero
Star Fox
Smash Bros.
Advance Wars: DOR
Xenoblade
Metroid
Zelda

 

[WeepingAngels]

While you'll get the occasional idiotic comment from sony fanboys. It seems as though the "Nintendo is for little kids" stigma is much less present on their handhelds compared to their consoles, especially nowadays.

No intelligent gamer is going to sit there and tell you that the GBA was a kids system or that the DS and 3DS are only played by 5 year olds, when they have games like Castlevania, Resident Evil, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Fire Emblem, Kid Icarus: Uprising, Golden Sun, Shin Megami Tensei, Monster Hunter, Tekken, Dead or Alive on there that while don't sell as much as a Mario or Zelda, sell well enough to be a decent success for the most part.

However, Nintendo consoles don't get games like that nearly as often as their handhelds and competition does. So when someone looks at a Nintendo Console, they'll mainly see Nintendo's first party games and the occasional mature/3rd party game on there.

It seems as though Nintendo's handhelds truly are for everyone while their consoles have tended to be for children and Nintendo fans ever since the N64. What do you think?

I don't consider Mario and Zelda to be kiddy. Why do you?

 

[themistermanguy]

While you'll get the occasional idiotic comment from sony fanboys. It seems as though the "Nintendo is for little kids" stigma is much less present on their handhelds compared to their consoles, especially nowadays.

No intelligent gamer is going to sit there and tell you that the GBA was a kids system or that the DS and 3DS are only played by 5 year olds, when they have games like Castlevania, Resident Evil, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Fire Emblem, Kid Icarus: Uprising, Golden Sun, Shin Megami Tensei, Monster Hunter, Tekken, Dead or Alive on there that while don't sell as much as a Mario or Zelda, sell well enough to be a decent success for the most part.

However, Nintendo consoles don't get games like that nearly as often as their handhelds and competition does. So when someone looks at a Nintendo Console, they'll mainly see Nintendo's first party games and the occasional mature/3rd party game on there.

It seems as though Nintendo's handhelds truly are for everyone while their consoles have tended to be for children and Nintendo fans ever since the N64. What do you think?

I don't consider Mario and Zelda to be kiddy. Why do you?

I don't consider them kiddy either. But gamers who aren't Nintendo fans may see at least Mario as kiddy.

 

[BrotherRool]

I agree the Nintendo handhelds are almost for everyone (They miss out on the CoD sort of crowd). They always have a huge selection of games that satisfies a lot of the hardcore demographic. There are the great RPGs, the more quirky experimental games.


Owning a DS still 'says' something about you, but it's very different from owning a Nintendo console. Nintendo consoles are family friendly or for Nintendo die-hards who're happy to play Zelda at the exclusion of almost every other AAA title (not judging that choice, and of course if you're rich and don't mind splashing money on games you can have multiple consoles).

Whereas with a DS you can play pretty much every decent handheld game there is (barring shooters maybe. The PSP might do better there), the choice doesn't lock you out. The only decision you've made is to get a handheld in the first place

 

[TehCookie]

It's all about 3rd party support, none of their mature games on handhelds are first party.

Fire Emblem and Kid Icarus are 1st party

Two titles out of how many? Compare that to the other consoles. There are always exceptions, you can find kiddie games by Microsoft and Sony but they're seen as mature.

F- Zero
Star Fox
Smash Bros.
Advance Wars: DOR
Xenoblade
Metroid
Zelda

In my opinion the majority of those aren't mature, but my opinion is a bad basis so let's go with something objective. None of those games have an M rating. The majority don't even have a T.

 

[Hero of Lime]

I'm thinking it's because Nintendo handhelds are the undisputed kings, meaning you'll see any type of game on Nintendo handhelds. Like you OP, I don't consider Nintendo "kiddy" in any way, so seeing the variety on the DS/3DS I assume should help their image in the eyes of "L33T mature gamerz." It doesn't of course...

 

[chozo_hybrid]

I don't find Nintendo to be "kiddy" at all. What's kiddy about enjoying color and happier things in your games? A lot of mature labelled games aren't exactly that, they can be quite stupid. Not everything has to be about guns and death etc.

I think the handhelds are less costly for smaller studios to develop for, so you see more of the sort of games you described appearing on them, but I see them and the main console/s at the same level. It's all about how mature the player is, not the game in most instances.

 

[Roxas1359]

I'm thinking it's because Nintendo handhelds are the undisputed kings, meaning you'll see any type of game on Nintendo handhelds. Like you OP, I don't consider Nintendo "kiddy" in any way, so seeing the variety on the DS/3DS I assume should help their image in the eyes of "L33T mature gamerz." It doesn't of course...

It's actually funny because lately I've noticed more people claiming that there are people who call Nintendo "kiddy", but I've been seeing more of them than actual people who believe that Nintendo is kiddy. XD

 

[balladbird]

Speaking as a proud owner of a 3ds: yes, Nintendo first party games still seem very kiddy to me. *shrug*

well, that might not be accurate. Honestly, the majority of Nintendo IPs that I've played don't have enough story for me to call them anything but "games." so, while Mario may be kid friendly, I can't say that its plot is isolating it to only kids... because I don't really see a plot there to begin with. It's a strength as well as a weakness, I suppose, since it means that the gameplay mechanics can stand on their own merits, and there are many subtleties to games like Mario or Zelda that reward the level of talent and observation that only older gamers can have.

regarding Fire Emblem... well... that requires a couple paragraphs of off topicness to address:

I own Fire Emblem: Awakening, and enjoyed it very much, but it didn't feel especially mature to me... granted, it didn't have the questionable dialogue options that made the other FE game I played (radiant dawn) unplayable for me, but at the end of the day it was a game that told a very straight-forward, good versus evil story, utilizing every RPG cliche in the book. I mean, seriously? A dragon of holy light and lifey goodness versus an evil dragon of shadow and destruction who was sealed for 1000 years 999 years ago? I adored the individual character interactions, they were some of the best I've seen in gaming, but the overarching plot was, if not "kiddy" certainly cliche as heck and derivative.

Honestly, what I find so frustrating about FE is that it DOES have elements with so much potential to them. You have the mad king of a nation who's more aware of his surroundings than he makes immediately apparent, and was even trying to do a noble thing, or a prince waxing philosophical about how silly his problems were when he complains about them to a lowborn thief, but they just seem.. I don't know... like Nintendo's afraid to do anything serious without running it through some kind of weird filter to take the edge off, and either ignores potential for depth, or pushes them to the back burner, where they can only be explored through optional downloads or character paths.

/off topic address


So yeah, sorry. I'm not really a fanboy of anything, but it's the 3rd party support that brings the truly great and memorable games to the 3ds for me. What little nintendo fare does appeal to me, generally seems to do so in spite of being from nintendo, rather than because of it.


tl;dr: While I do not know that "kiddy" is the word I would use, it's true that nintendo IPs don't appeal to me personally, and no, even on handhelds this has not changed.

 

[Yopaz]

It's all about 3rd party support, none of their mature games on handhelds are first party.

Fire Emblem and Kid Icarus are 1st party

Two titles out of how many? Compare that to the other consoles. There are always exceptions, you can find kiddie games by Microsoft and Sony but they're seen as mature.

F- Zero
Star Fox
Smash Bros.
Advance Wars: DOR
Xenoblade
Metroid
Zelda

In my opinion the majority of those aren't mature, but my opinion is a bad basis so let's go with something objective. None of those games have an M rating. The majority don't even have a T.

So anything for a mature audience needs to be violent enough for to be rated M now? Honestly I would say Professor Layton is actually more mature than Call of Duty despite the difference in rating.

OT: Honestly, I hate the word kiddy because it makes it sounds like it's not something an adult would enjoy. Super Mario may not be violent, but I would rather refer to it as family friendly than "kiddy". Telletubbies is kiddy because that's something that's made for kids exclusively and that adults won't enjoy unless there's something wrong with them. However to answer your question, outside of Metroid, Pandora's Tower, Xenoblade and third party Nintendo is pretty much making games you would consider kiddy.

I'm a huge fan of Nintendo and it's in part because of this. When so many others decide to follow the route of grittier, darker and less vibrant Nintendo makes sure to be the opposite of that. Nintendo isn't just for kids, but it's kid friendly for the most part.

 

[Fox12]

I would argue that Nintendo is definitely kiddie, or rather, family friendly. Just look at the wii, the entire marketing campaign involved families enjoying E rated games together. I don't understand why everyone acts like that is a bad thing though. Is Zelda any less fun just because it's historically been marketed towards kids?

In any case, yes, I would argue that the DS has more "mature" content, or at least more graphic content. That's not really a surprise though, there's not much competition out there, and the PSP doesn't have the market share the Nintendo 3ds has.

 

[Roxas1359]

You gave a bad example since Zelda is not target for kids. It's T. (+12)

I think you mean 13 and up. That's how rated T for teen has always been.
Also, the Legend of Zelda games have been rated E since it's dawn. The only Zelda game ever rated T was Twilight Princess. Technically Link's Crossbow Training was rated T as well, but the day I recognize that excuse to buy a Wii Zapper as a Zelda game is the day I see Game Freak game on a PS Vita. Most Zelda games nowadays are rated E10+.

 

[Hero of Lime]

I'm thinking it's because Nintendo handhelds are the undisputed kings, meaning you'll see any type of game on Nintendo handhelds. Like you OP, I don't consider Nintendo "kiddy" in any way, so seeing the variety on the DS/3DS I assume should help their image in the eyes of "L33T mature gamerz." It doesn't of course...

It's actually funny because lately I've noticed more people claiming that there are people who call Nintendo "kiddy", but I've been seeing more of them than actual people who believe that Nintendo is kiddy. XD

It doesn't happen everywhere, but to lots of gamers Nintendo is just for kids/families in finely ironed polo shirts. It's rare to see it on the Escapist which is really nice, but other dark corners of the internet still hold the tired "Nintendo = kiddy" perception.

 

[TehCookie]

So anything for a mature audience needs to be violent enough for to be rated M now? Honestly I would say Professor Layton is actually more mature than Call of Duty despite the difference in rating.

OT: Honestly, I hate the word kiddy because it makes it sounds like it's not something an adult would enjoy. Super Mario may not be violent, but I would rather refer to it as family friendly than "kiddy". Telletubbies is kiddy because that's something that's made for kids exclusively and that adults won't enjoy unless there's something wrong with them. However to answer your question, outside of Metroid, Pandora's Tower, Xenoblade and third party Nintendo is pretty much making games you would consider kiddy.

I'm a huge fan of Nintendo and it's in part because of this. When so many others decide to follow the route of grittier, darker and less vibrant Nintendo makes sure to be the opposite of that. Nintendo isn't just for kids, but it's kid friendly for the most part.

I was going for something objective because arguing back on forth of whether not Smash Bros is mature would be annoying and never see a conclusion. Though you kinda missed the mark. I never once spoke of the quality of the games or said adults can't enjoy them, I said the DS had more mature titles because it had more 3rd party support and they are the ones who create mature games.

I agree with you for the most part, except I've been calling Nintendo kiddie for years and no one cared til now. I like to think it's because when I called it kiddie before the fans were kids, now they grew up and don't to associate with anything childish. I also like to think I started this trend, but that probably isn't true either.

 

[Billy D Williams]

Does 'kiddy' mean something that can be equally enjoyed by children and adults (i.e. what most thing's described as kiddy really are)? Than no, Nintendo is extremely kiddy on the 3DS and that is fucking awesome. Already decided I'm gonna be picking one up next year (I would now but I wont be able to play it for 3 months come Febuary, I'd rather just wait to buy a used one for super cheap).